Originally Posted by s-glide76

The above post by @FatBob2018 is 100 percent correct. I couldn't have said it any better.

Originally Posted by ChrisHo

Of course it is, I made the list of those who could save Harley-Davidson.

Originally Posted by FatBob2018

An astronomical amount of brainwashed drivel...

Originally Posted by Mattbastard

So, first you say tariffs are irrelevant because there's nothing the CEO can do about them.
Then you go on to say how much control the CEO (and his board) has by "navigating the waters"... WHICH IS EXACTLY HAVING CONTROL OVER TARIFFS! Make up your mind here, which is it?

Originally Posted by FatBob2018

Yes, of course I see where it's going. Everything is going to cost more, and companies are going to want to build their products in the US so they don't get hit with tariffs, which will increase jobs and increase wages, and people will have enough money to then buy what they want, even though it's more expensive. That's the circle we go through. That's what it was like all throughout the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's, before "globalism". Globalism outsourced manufacturing and jobs, which led to lower wages here, so people could only afford cheap imported stuff like from Wal-Mart or Amazon, etc. Many households are only afloat because of the Dollar Store and Wal-Mart. It's atrocious and even criminal what has happened to American households! And it's unsustainable. And it's a national security issue, since those other countries can shut off their exports at any time, and we are at their mercy. Globalism has destroyed the middle class, which is the exact market that Harley (used to) serve.

Globalism is the disease, and the Dollar Store and Wal-Mart and cheap non-tariffed imports are the painkillers. Tariffs and trade deals are the cure. Chemotherapy (in many cases) kills and cures cancer, but the side effects you have while you're on it are horrible. Tariffs and equal trade are the chemotherapy here, and yeah, things are going to get ugly for a while. Like they say, if you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs.

(note: whether you believe in the above stuff or not, that's the path that the leadership of the country has set and will presumably stay on for at least the next four years).

Dumbed down/TLDR: businesses go where the parts and labor and taxes are the cheapest, to make their product cheaply. The goal of tariffs is to make imports so expensive that it's actually cheaper for the business to make the products here. And it is expected that the increased manufacturing and all associated trades will need to hire competitively, which will create jobs and higher salaries, such that the citizens actually have enough wages to buy the products they need, and if that takes high tariffs, then high tariffs will be used, and constitutionally the federal government was established to be financed off of tariffs instead of taxes.

Here's why I say that the present tariff situation is irrelevant to whether it'll make the CEO's job harder or not: yes, of course any CEO candidate is going to have to manage those waters. But that has nothing to do with H Partners and their proxy fight! That's not their job. It's the job of the Board of Directors to choose a CEO, and it's the CEO's job to navigate those waters. H Partners isn't going to be the CEO, and they're not going to be the Board. They're trying to rip the cancerous Zeitz regime out by the roots, and they've laid out their hopes for what qualities the replacement CEO should have.


Not sure I understand why you're saying this. Do you think I think the job of CEO can be done by any old brainless NPC? Maybe I didn't make it clear what I was saying. I was saying that Zeitz (and his team) are so toxic to Harley's success that practically anyone else would do less harm to the company than Zeitz has already done and will continue to do. He must be replaced, today. Even ChatGPT would do a better job than he and his team have. But the goal is to have a qualified, visionary leader; that's how you really re-establish Harley as the dominant force it used to be.

RANKING OF THOSE WHO CAN SAVE HARLEY DAVIDSON:
(ranked from best to worst)
1. A qualified experienced visionary CEO, who exhibits the traits illustrated by H Partners' proposal and as quoted in my last post.
2. A qualified experienced CEO who wants to grow the company and who loves motorcycles
3. An qualified experienced CEO who wants to grow the company, but doesn't know anything about motorcycles.
4. An experienced CEO who wants to grow the company.
5. An inexperienced CEO who wants to grow the company.
6. Logan Paul
7. ChatGPT
8. Any member of Harley Davidson Forums who thinks s/he has great ideas
9 A random instagrammer
10. A sentient, talking anus
...
...
666: Hillary Clinton
...
...
999. Jochen Zeitz (or anyone of any qualifications who has a direct conflict of interest against Harley's core business)

You're right, it isn't checkers, it's chess. But it also isn't rocket science. Love him or hate him, 4D chess or raving idiot, Trump stopped the illegal immigration free-for-all at the border, by taking simple common steps to enforce existing law. If you want to get somewhere, you should take the steps that lead you there. Zeitz has demonstrated where he wants to get to and has taken the steps to get there, by cancelling product lines, cancelling models, closing dealers, and raising prices, all in a quest to see fewer gas-engine bikes sold, while pouring all available money into endless money pit LiveWire. Those steps he's taken have led the company to the state it's in, a perilous pit with no obvious way out. He, his team, and his vision are all exactly wrong for Harley. That's why I said ChatGPT (or even Hillary Clinton) would be a better CEO than Zeitz! Zeitz might be a great CEO for Greenpeace, but he is an active virulent agent of destruction for Harley.

The right choice for Harley is going to be a bread and butter, nuts and bolts, A to Z leader who wants to grow the company and expand its business and its profits. Obviously any other suggestion is hyperbole to contrast how horrid a choice a climate activist like Zeitz is for an internal-combustion motorcycle company.

Originally Posted by Mattbastard

I also find is funny that you somehow seem to think making everyday items more expensive is going to magically fix the income inequality in the US. News flash buddy, those rich ******** are the ones NOT raising income levels proportionate to cost of living increases and inflation over the last few decades.

Last I heard, Trump wants to make his rich friends richer. This is one way to do it. Also market manipulation, which we've been seeing these last few weeks.

Originally Posted by Keithhu

This has to be the best example of profound, uninformed magical thinking I've ever read. Congratulations.

Originally Posted by FatBob2018

I prefer to call it "history", but you're welcome to your own terms.